Monday, February 16, 2026

Vintage Photo of a Kalinga Warrior

While browsing through a vintage 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 travel guidebook (𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘺𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 1990), I came across this featured photo of a man somewhere in Kalinga. Exact location wasn't specified. The man was armed with a long spear and a machete.

The caption for the photograph goes:

"A wary Kalinga warrior watches over a bend in the Chico river, north of the Luzon mountains. The Kalinga were enraged by plans to dam the river, at a cost of several villages and rice terraces, and the inundation of ancestral graves. Though they no longer display enemy heads on posts, the Kalinga are not to be tangled with."

[Image source: Reader's Digest People and Places, Copyright 1990]